Global, Regional, and Local Decision Levels to Aircraft Noise Management in Airports

Abstract

A balanced approach (BA) to noise management was adopted by the ICAO Assembly in 2001 at the 33rd Session as a new policy for aircraft noise exposure control globally. It is a complex approach and the ICAO BA guidance explains all its four elements in detail without the special emphasis which of them is primarily important. The guidance emphasizes the goal of the BA implementation at any specific airport as the most cost-effective and environmentally beneficial set of noise-related measures, using objective and measurable criteria. Each airport is different in its operational, social, economic, and political situation, so the type of land use in its vicinity may vary quite differently even in an equal noise environment. A specific decision-making system is necessary to organize inside each zone of noise management a general program for the protection of the population from aircraft noise exposure that governs fleet improvement, urban planning and air traffic management, implementation of low noise flight procedures, and as the last step usage, the mitigation measures. A simplified model for aircraft noise exposure assessment in airports is considered for usage in necessary decision-making for more successful BA implementation.